


Quinny: An Amazon out of the ordinary

by RhiD29



Series: Demigod athlete [4]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: Gen, God legacy, Identity Struggles
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-13
Updated: 2018-10-21
Packaged: 2019-08-01 06:13:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 19,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16279301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RhiD29/pseuds/RhiD29
Summary: Rebecca Quinn is living her dream to be in Rio for the Olympics. But there is that bus accident and Ann-Sophie and Jessie are more involved than anyone else. Quinn being the only one seeing anything, is told to question her parents. She learns her Great-grand-father is in fact Mars, the roman god of war. But instead of joining the camp Jessie tells her about, her mother wants her to join the Amazons, for who she works. Quinny has to move to Seattle to train and learn how to run Amazon until she proves herself good enough to run her own in another city, just like her mom does in Toronto.But even if it’s easier to get out and play for Canada than Jessie, the Amazons still make her struggle. It’s just on a different level: it kind of conflicts with her personality and some of her values. To add more to it, her tomboy side is not welcome and she finds herself questioning her own identity. Will Rebecca finally feel like she belongs with all those entrepreneurs, just like her mom did? Will she be happy being who she is? Because having a boy-ish style in the middle of a group that consider itself superior to men is not an easy task.





	1. It was not only an accident

**Author's Note:**

> Notes to readers:  
> For those reading this because of Rebecca Quinn, this is a demigod universe, with monsters and all. There is a Roman demigod camp in the San Francisco area (where Jessie Fleming goes, see part. 1 of the series), Greek demigods in a camp in Long Island (where original character Ann Sophie is, plus hockey player Alina Müller, see part. 2 and 3), and there are the Amazons. They’re a group of women who trains, and runs an enterprise called Amazon ;). They also are superior to men.  
> If there are people reading coming from the Percy Jackson fandom, Rebecca Quinn is a soccer player for Canada, so is Jessie Fleming. The story starts as they are in Rio for the 2016 Olympics. For the timeline compared to Rick Riordan books, the story is set about two years or so after the Heroes of Olympus series. It makes Hylla about around 27 if someone wonders.  
> You might notice during that story that I call the main character “Quinn” and “Quinny” way more often than Rebecca. Why I chose using her nickname and last name instead of her actual name is something I can’t explain yet. It would make the main plot in the story quite obvious. Anyway, I noticed she uses only “Quinn” on her social media accounts instead of “Rebecca Quinn”, so it’s not that odd to me to refer to her as Quinn for this story.
> 
> On that, this is obviously just a fanfiction, so I’m not saying the struggles the character faces in this is reflecting on real life Rebecca Quinn. It’s kind of based on a comment I heard during a game I attended, and I thought it could lead to a good idea to write on. I could be wrong about her, I could be right. But unless proven otherwise by a statement from her, I’m probably wrong. I’m probably confusing a couple of people right now, but I swear it will make sense by chapter 3 or 4.

They arrived in their first destination, Sao Paulo, where they’d play their group games except one, the first being against Australia. It was quite weird they were travelling that much. Quinn wished they would have stayed in Rio, but the soccer tournament was held in a couple of cities at the same time.  Probably so Brazil could play in all of the cities. They had had two days in the Olympic village, but more than half the athletes weren’t there yet. They were spending a couple of days in Sao Paulo before their first game, and they opened the Olympics on the Wednesday.

Quinn was quite confident they could make it to the quarters. And hopefully not do like last year, at the World Cup she didn’t participate in, and lose once in quarters. They were going for a gold medal, they wouldn’t take a fifth-place finish very well this time. Quinn was ready to give her all once on the field. No matter how much time she’d play, she had to be there for the team and play her best.

She sat on her bed next to Jessie. Like they had so many times before, they were roomed together. It was just easier this way. The girls were used to be with each other, it was not an adjustment to make. Hopefully, it would go well, and they wouldn’t want to kill each other. The other girl with them was Janine, but the oldest girl was talking in the hallway with teammates still.

              “Can you believe we’re at the Olympics, Quinny?”

She looked at Fleming with big eyes. She had dreamed of that all her life. But she was only half realising it yet, even if they had taken way too much picture in the village. She was sure it would feel real when they’d play against Australia. Or when they’d get interviewed. Quinn was a little sad about not being in Rio, they’d have to miss the Opening ceremony. That would have been awesome being there with all those athletes. “Another time, I guess,” she thought. She wanted to go for more than one Olympic game. And hopefully, they’d be in Rio for the Closing ceremony. She wanted to see that show. They were basically the only athletes being away. Everyone could share their experience, meet other sports’ athletes. And they were not. She wouldn’t say it loud, but she felt a little bit jealous. Just a little. She was still playing at the biggest world stage ever, what was she complaining about?

Ann-Sophie Flowers and Gabrielle Carle entered in the room, waking up Quinn a little. Ann-Sophie was one of the youngest, Quinn didn’t really know who was between her and Deanne Rose. But Gabby and Ann-So wouldn’t get to play unless too many injuries. They were reservists. They still wanted to be there for the experience. And four years earlier, everyone had played. Marie‑Ève Nault had started a game while being reservist at first, so this year’s reservists took the chance anyway, in case they’d be subbing in for one game. Ann-Sophie was there because Kaylyn Kyle refused to come if she didn’t play. John had decided to bring a younger who would be happy just to live the experience instead.

Ann-Sophie seemed nervous. She was always looking at Jessie, and Quinn couldn’t figure out why. They were looking outside, like if they thought something would happen there. Gaby ended up questioning their acts.

              “You wouldn’t understand. It’s something between Ann-Sophie and I,” Jessie said. “Rebecca, do you have Wi-Fi?”

After checking out, Quinn nodded. She passed her cellphone to her best friend. Jessie didn’t own a phone. Or at least, she said she didn’t. Quinn was pretty sure she had seen something very similar to one the other day in Paris, but she didn’t say anything about it. It could have been a music player and she didn’t notice.

              “I was just wondering. I’m not calling my parents yet. We just got here. And they are not the kind of people to worry.”

Ann-Sophie let a little laugh.

              “I wish I had actually a dad to call, but I guess he knows where I am at all time, uh? And I didn’t tell Sarah when we’d be here, I’ll call her later tonight.”

Janine entered on that and made an understanding smile. Both had lost their dad. Janine Beckie was playing for Canada in memory of hers. She was in fact born and raised in United States. She even had played for them in youth programs, if Quinn recalled well, but her father was from Canada. Ann‑Sophie’s dad had died from a car accident when she was a kid, and she didn’t know her mother, so she had ended up in foster families. She was gladly adopted by one two years ago, Jessie had told Quinn during a previous camp. That was a good thing. Quinny didn’t question why she didn’t call them. She was probably not close to her foster family that much. She never talked about them.

They installed their stuff before the team meeting. Quinn looked fast outside. The weather looked nice and she just felt like going out a bit to move her legs. They had been sitting for most of the day, with the flight and bus ride. Hopefully, they’d go for a walk or something.

 

The Wednesday came quite fast, but the team was ready to play their first game. They were playing Australia, a team they hadn’t faced since 2008. Basically, there was less than five players on the Canadian team that had played that country, and the program had change drastically since. Quinn supposed the Australian were not the same players either, so they didn’t really know what to expect. They knew the Aussies were better ranked, which meant they might have to play a more defensive play during the game. Quinn knew she wasn’t starting.

There was quite a lot of people in the stands. A lot of them were probably Brazilians. They probably wanted to see some soccer, even if it wasn’t their country. Quinn wondered who they’d cheer for.

The game started with the Australian team having the ball. But then, it wasn’t time to blink. Christine Sinclair ran to steal the ball on a pass and ran towards the goal. Janine Beckie was following, and placed herself in the box, where the captain made the perfect pass. Quinny stood up from her seat. From her point of view, her roommate just had to redirect it. Quinn looked at the time. 20 seconds, 21 seconds… They were already up 1-0! Not a minute in the game! The crowd was loud, so was Quinn. Canada cheerer, then?

Quinn was just starting to warm up when a referee and disappointed fans got heard. She risked a look at the field. The ref was coming to Shelina Zadorsky. Since Quinny hadn’t seen the play, she expected a yellow card. She blinked as she saw the color of the card. As red as their jersey. They would play with ten players for almost the whole game. That was not good. Steph Labbé was running by Shelina, who was already heading by the bench, and Quinny couldn’t guess what she was saying, but she looked to be telling her that they’d be fine, to stay calm. Quinn looked at the head coach. Would he make changes and go with more defenders considering a player less? He made a sign to her to approach, after a not-happy look to Shelina. They were not yet at the 20‑minute mark. Was a first substitution happening soon?

That’s exactly what John Herdman decided to do, as Quinn was the next player to go on the field. They needed to play more defensively, and she played the best she could. She tried not letting the little warmup faze her. She needed to do her best for the team.

There wasn’t that much action worth describing until about 70 minutes into the game. Janine was taking a penalty kick, but the Australian goalkeeper guessed the right side and kept the ball out. Ugh. Less than ten minutes later, a long pass was made by Jessie in direction of the midfield, where Christine was close enough to run to it. She immediately went for a breakaway, and Williams was quite far from her goal, hoping to be the first one to have the ball. Better luck for the keeper next time, the Canadian captain was first and passed next to the goalkeeper’s head. And Sinclair delivered, the ball bouncing its way. 2-0 with 10 to 15 minutes to go. They could win their first game.

And they did. They beaten the fifth ranked team, with a player short! There was something to celebrate, and the team was quite proud of themselves. They learned later Beckie had now the record for fastest goal in Olympic history.

 

The team watched the Olympic ceremony on TV. Despite not being there, they could still celebrate. One player proposed to make their own “entrance” before the ceremony. They walked down a hallway, holding a flag, smiling, and looking at someone who was filming them doing so, and then went in the room to sit and watch the ceremony. The video was then sent on social medias.

The ceremony was beautiful. They might not be there, but at the same time, Quinn wasn’t that bothered, the athletes’ entrance was almost at the end of the show. Being away meant they could watch it all.

Canada was finally announced. The girls were all on the edge of their seats, trying to spot athletes they knew, or just looking at Rosie MacLennan holding the flag. Then, on the corner of the screen, appeared a little screen. Quinn looked quickly at it before realising she saw Christine with the flag. Their “athlete entrance” video had made its way for the whole world to see! The girls got loud suddenly.

They watched the rest of the ceremony in a bit calmer. It felt so real to know that she had made it. She was an Olympian, now. Officially. The Games were officially started, the torch lighten. Rio 2016, here we are. And here we’ll perform. For better or for worse.

 

Saturday meant soccer match day. They faced Zimbabwe. It was a team they should be able to beat and dominate, Canada being quite better ranked. Like, Zimbabwe was ranked 93rd. Canada was supposed to win this. Quinn was sure the medias and fans already assumed it as a win. They couldn’t afford to lose.

The game started well. Beckie opened the scoring in the 7th minute, on a ball centered by Sinclair. The keeper stopped it, at first, but let a rebound Janine was not going to miss. Melissa Tancredi was also near the ball.

In the 15th minute, Diana Matheson almost doubled the lead, but she hit the post. Then, not so long later, Jessie sent a ball in front for Diana, who was almost offsides as a girl from Zimbabwe headed it, but sent it were the small player was. The keeper went for it too, but instead of hitting the ball, she jumped and hit Matheson knee against shoulder. The refs called what Quinn thought fair, a penalty kick. Captain didn’t miss. 2-0.

In the 35th minute, Beckie scored again, making it 3-0. On a pass from Josée Bélanger. Then, less than ten minutes later, they thought Diana had scored, but she was called offside.

The second half didn’t go much how Canada wanted. They had most of the ball possession, but they got three yellow cards, which frustrated them a little. They also let a goal in. The defenders were quite confused when their goalkeeper went completely out of the net when Quinn and the rest of the back players thought they were in control. The Zimbabwean woman was able to pass next to Dangelo and scored. Quinn was quite disappointed they had let a goal in, but they were still winning that game.

The game ended 3-1. Next game would be way harder. They faced Germany. Quinn wasn’t sure if Canada had ever won a game against them. They had a losing streak of something like twenty years. The German team was the said favorite for that matchup, but Canada wanted to prove themselves. Hopefully, they’d have time to rest to give out their 100 % for the next game. Because they had a couple of things to work on from their second game. Not getting more cards was one. They didn’t want to have to sit any more defender. Shelina missing the game that day because of the first game red card, and Kadeisha because of too many yellows for next game was enough.

 

They had a day where they could relax a little. Quinn talked with her family, supporting her. It was good. It felt needed, too. Quinn took the opportunity to ask how the other athletes were doing. They were so in their bubble with interviews, games, team meetings, that Quinn hadn’t gone much on social medias. Where were they in the standings?

              “So far, we have 4 medals, all won by women. Today, rugby won bronze. Penny Oleksiak won a silver yesterday in swimming. And she helped the relay team to get a medal. And I’m forgetting one I can’t remember.”

Quinn smiled. Canada was starting quite great. Quinn knew a lot of medal hopes were competing more in the second half of the games than the first half, though diving finals in synchro were the next day. She knew more medals were coming. And knowing Canada was doing great put a smile on her face. They could go too and get a medal, hopefully a golden one. That was the team’s goal, no less.

She spent some more time with her family. Just talking to them, having the support and think about something else than performance for an hour was what she needed. Laugh. Have some fun.

They left Sao Paulo after the resting day. They were playing one game in Brasilia. Quinny was quite confused on why they were changing city just for one game. They would either return to Sao Paulo or go in Belo Horizonte for quarters. Because they had good chances to make it. If they lost to Germany, it would depend how the other teams in the groups did, but Quinn was quite confident.

 

On Tuesday was finally the waited matchup. Before the game, Tancredi did a motivating speech. Make history. Have that win against Germany. They had never lost against Canada. Quinn was determined to show what her country was about. The team was ready.

The speech was a good idea, because Tanc ended up scoring both goals leading to a historic victory. Diana and Christine both sat the game, Quinny was starting. Beckie wasn’t.

The lone German goal was made first, on a penalty shot as Chapman took down an opponent. Tanc tied it less than 15 minutes later. Germany led in shots Canada 10-4 in the first half. Jessie sat the second half, for Lawrence.

At the 60th minute mark, Quinn was given a kick. She centered the best she could, and Tancredi headed it right into the net. 2-1 Canada. Quinn went directly in direction of the bench to celebrate, with Christine, Diana, Jessie and Janine, before returning to the teammates on the field.

And they done it. They had beaten a 22-year losing streak. They had finally beaten Germany. At the Olympic Games! They had booked their ticket to quarters. They could also meet France there. Last Olympics, they had won the bronze over them despite shooting not a lot more than twice, while France had more than twenty shots at them.

 

They ended up seeing France, coming back to Sao Paulo. The European team wanted their revenge and end Canada’s game here. Quinn didn’t agree. We beaten you almost by luck last time, at the last minute, but we got better. We are a strong team now. _I am confident, I am unstoppable today_. Sia’s unstoppable was playing in the locker room for the Games. Giving the energy for that team to go and win.

The game started a little luckily for the Canadian squad. Quinn was sure they’d get a penalty because of a move by Kadeisha. She was quite a rough player.

Canada didn’t get much momentums like in preliminaries. Teams were quite equal, despite France being ranked third. Canada didn’t want to make a mistake that would cost the game, it was a do-or-die situation.

The coach gave his speech during half-time. The team stepped up for the final 45 minutes. At the 55th minute, Beckie sent the ball to Schmidt in the box, and she didn’t make any mistakes. She beaten the keeper, putting Canada in a leading position. They had to hold on to it now.

Quinn being on the bench, she celebrated with her teammates there, being careful with Allysha, who had a shoulder injury keeping her from playing.

A couple of minutes later, Canada got lucky. France got a free kick and a red player Quinn couldn’t tell who it was from the bench, in an attempt to clear the ball, headed it directly on the post. France got the rebound but shot too high. Inches from an own goal that would have tied the game. Phew!

And they done it. They held on their lead. They were going to semis! Everyone ran by the Canadian goal, where most of the team was, to celebrate, as the French players were disappointed. Canada had crushed their hope for a medal… again! Quinn’s run wasn’t done yet. They were still in that tournament. They’d have a chance to play for a medal. They wanted to go for the gold, but the chances they faced Germany were quite high. They had beaten them for the first time ever in that tournament, could it be their lucky run?

Quinn dared looking at the results of the other quarters. She blinked in shock. USA, the defending gold medalist and world champion, was beaten by Sweden. There wouldn’t be a chance of rematch of London’s semifinals. The game had been tied, and had led to shootout. Critics were already going out, and Quinny hesitated before looking at it. It seemed to concern Hope Solo, the keeper.

She decided looking at the highlights. It was permitted, right? She saw the goals made by both teams. Then the shootout. At the last Sweden player to shoot, Hope Solo waved the referee. Took her time to change gloves that looked to be exactly the same. Quinn wondered if that was the critics against her. Because she took forever to go. And when she went back to her net, she didn’t stop the ball from entering, making Sweden move forward.

Quinn decided to go look at the critics. What was wrong with what had happened? They couldn’t blame only Hope Solo, right? There was a 20-player roster.

              _“Thought that we played a courageous game,” Solo said following the surprise result. “I think we showed a lot of heart. We came back from a goal down. I’m very proud of this team. But I also think we played a bunch of cowards. The best team did not win today.”_

That was what was up. The critics were coming. Quinny grinned. Maybe it was not the best idea to call the winning team bad names. A good lesson on what not to do during an Olympic tournament. She showed Jessie, who was coming from the bathroom after a shower.

              “I’m not making any comments on that. Have you seen my electronic devise somewhere? I need to use it.”

Quinn shrugged. She called it an _electronic devise_. It didn’t have a name? An iPod, MP3 player, cellphone? And why was Jessie never talking about it? She was finally admitting she has _something_? Couldn’t she have Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and all those popular apps on that?

Quinn saw it on the top of her luggage. It looked like any regular cellphone.

              “Don’t look at it and give me this,” Jessie ordered, her serious face on, while trying to keep her towel in place. She put her free hand in front of Quinny’s, palm up, so the tallest girl could put the devise in her hand.

Rebecca wasn’t mean, so she gave it back. She was just curious. Ann-Sophie and Jessie seemed to be keeping secrets to the team, and it started to bug her. They were both always a little nervous and looking around like they were on the pitch playing a game, but like, all day. Their eye movement was giving Quinn a head ache. _You’re looking at an electronic stuff, stop looking at the window like something would happen,_ Quinn thought after looking at her teammate’s act for a minute.

She decided to go out of the room and joined the Frenchies. Marie-Ève, Rhian, Josée and Gabrielle were in Josée’s bedroom. Ann-Sophie had passed next to her in the hallway, so Quinn didn’t ask where the last Quebecer was. Because Frenchies tended to hang out together more. And it was ok.  

              “Hey, what’s up?”

Quinny shrugged. She just didn’t feel like being next to a boring Jessie, and had knocked to the first door she had seen, really.

              “Have you guys notice if Jess and Ann-So were acting weird lately? Like, Jessie doesn’t seem to calm herself down, she often seems to be on alert mode. I noticed Ann-Sophie was too. I’m worried for them. Has Ann-So mentioned something to you guys? I know she is closer to you than anyone else on the team. And since you speak French, she can tell you things we won’t understand because we’re bad at it.”

They all looked clueless. Gabrielle commented she had noticed too.

              “I know Ann lies about having a cellphone. I caught her having a conversation with her girlfriend the other day. She definitely has her own. When she noticed me, she stopped talking and put it in her bag. Pretty sure Sarah is still pissed she hung up without warnings. And she chats with Jessie, Ann-Sophie just left the room because she had texted her, I saw the name appear on the screen. And every time Diana and I are on our phone, that’s when she becomes the most in alert mode.”

Quinn found it weird. She noted to herself to try noticing when in the day Jessie was acting the weirdest. She had tried questioning Jessie on her behaviour, and it had done nothing. Why were they nervous? About what? Could anyone help? And why lying on something as stupid as having or not a phone? Did they really not want to text and follow them on social media? Quinn had followed Jessie until two years ago, because Jessie had deleted all her accounts. She had never found Ann‑Sophie’s, she probably didn’t have any. Why the shut down?

The girls decided to change the conversation, because no one was adding anything. What was else to say? The girls were acting weird and completely silent about it. It frustrated Quinny a little, seeing her best friend acting like that didn’t please her, but she couldn’t let that ruin her friendship, or let that taking her mind off her goal here. She just hoped Jessie was as focused on the medal than her.

Marie-Ève started talking about a TV show she was watching, and the conversation changed. Quinn stayed in the room until in was time for bed. She was not avoiding Jessie, but she didn’t feel like being with her that night. Quinny was getting along well with the London native, but sometimes, she needed to keep her distance before they started getting on each other nerves. Tonight was one of those case.

 

They were going to Belo Horizonte to face Germany. When it was time to leave the room, Jessie looked quite nervous.

              “What’s wrong with you, seriously? What’s on your mind. Stop lying, I know there’s something that’s bothering you for days.” Quinn said, not able to stay silent.

              “I wish I could tell you, but I really can’t. You wouldn’t understand, and I’m not allowed to tell you anyway.”

              “Try me. You could be surprise. And who will know you told me?” Quinn said on her defensive.

Jessie shook her head, with a sorry smile. Quinn could feel it was painful for her not to talk, and that was even more frustrating. She needed to talk. Who asked for silence? Was someone abusing of his authority and messing with her best friend?

They entered in the bus for the airport. Jessie insisted to keep her backpack with her instead of the compartment under the bus. The equipment manager shrugged. It wasn’t very important except to Jessie. The brunette turned to one of the youngest.

              “Ann-So, keep it too. I don’t know why but I have a bad feeling. I wouldn’t put my bag anywhere else far from me. Just in case. I just hope my instincts are wrong and I’m freaking out for nothing.”

Quinn looked at Diana and Tancredi who were walking next to her. They had also heard it and were a bit confused. What was that important in her bag? And what instincts? The worriedness she felt about her friends was coming back. What were they hiding. She overheard a girl saying something in French that, if Quinn was right with her basic French she had in high school, looked to be, “What is going on again with these two?”

Quinn was almost surprised when Jessie went in the back of the bus. She had expected to see her sitting with Ann-Sophie, with all their secrets. Ann-Sophie was always sitting in the front. She was very motion sick. No matter what kind of transportation it was. Planes looked to be her worse. She was one of those hating the fact they were travelling the most. Basically, the schedule was making her sick every couple of days. It was even more depressing when you thought she was travelling to sit in the stands.

Quinn asked Jessie if they could sit together.

              “Since when do you ask? But, if you don’t mind, I feel like being in my bubble right now. If I feel like talking, I’ll let you know.”

Quinn sighed. She was not open to have a conversation. Quinn knew she was trying to push the girl to talk, but at the same time, she couldn’t keep all to herself. It was starting to bother the team at that point. Christine looked at her with a “leave her alone” face, but Quinn was still frustrated. What happened with _we are supposed to be best friend_ thing?

If Jessie was already nervous, things got worse after about ten minutes on the highway. Quinn could feel her teammate was tense. Started looking at the windows with a worried look. Look the other side of the bus. Looked up to see Ann-Sophie’s head. Jessie stood up.

              “Can you let me pass? I need to go see Ann-So.”

Quinn made room for her legs to pass, after pausing the music. Weirdly, Jessie took her backpack that was in the compartment above their heads. Wasn’t she supposed to go see Flowers? Quinn noted that Jessie was a little pale. That was not her kind to be car sick, but you never know. Maybe she wanted to look her bag in case she had something to help. If not, Ann-Sophie had medicine for that for sure.

Jessie grabbed the bag and went directly in direction of the front. Quinn found it odd. If she didn’t feel well, she would have gone to the bathroom in the back to vomit, no? Though the motion of the bus was less bad in the front than at the back.

The last thing Quinn expected about Jessie leaving her side was that it was due to that secret Ann‑Sophie and Jessie shared. It didn’t click yet in her mind. She looked at Jessie sitting next to Rhian, and the teens seemed to chat a little. But in less than a minute, Ann-Sophie looked even more panicked than Jessie. Uh, probably not nausea.

Was Jessie keeping a baseball bat in her bag? And why the hell was it for? Quinny must have seen it wrong. She had taken something out of her bag, that was long, but Quinn was a bit far. Other girls didn’t even seem to notice, not even Rhian, or like John Herdman.

Ann-Sophie looked on guard while Jessie moved up in front of the bus. Quinn was too far to hear anything, but Jessie seemed to be arguing after a couple of minutes. “Stop the bus. It’s very important! You don’t get it.”

Ann-Sophie was also talking loud, but with John. The British man was embarrassed. Their flight was in a couple of hours, they risked being late if they went back to the hotel. Quinn wondered what was wrong. They wouldn’t stop the bus if they felt sick. There was a bathroom in the back, and plenty of plastic bag hung under the windows to puke in. But why the baseball bat and all that arguing?

Quinn decided she had enough and put her music on play before taking the seat Jessie had warmed. That’s when things got even weirder. She must have fallen asleep and be dreaming, right? By the window, there was a form coming on the highway, very big, that Quinn couldn’t say what it was. It was just dark, and making its way by their direction. It looked like a monster walking on the highway, crushing the cars under its feet.

              “What the hell is that?” was the first thing that came to her mind.

She looked in the direction of Jessie and stood up. She must know what it was. As she approached the front of the bus, she saw the baseball bat was quite far from being what she thought it was. No, it was a sword. It looked golden. When she got nearer, she noticed Ann-Sophie had one, on the seat next to her. Hers was a little smaller, and a bit more brownish. The colour looked more like the London bronze medals her teammates had than gold. Pure bronze?

              “What is that? Is that a monster? And why do you have those swords? Are you trying to go fight that thing?”

Ann-Sophie immediately replied, the panic in her voice was felt.

              “If we don’t we’re all gonna die, Quinny.”

Jessie was still trying to convince the coach and driver to stop, and suddenly turned her head.

              “Wait, you can see it? Oh great! We might have to explain.”

If that was what they were hiding, Quinn get why they didn’t talk. Anyone would think they were crazy. Quinn looked in the distance. If they didn’t park soon to let the girls go fight it, they’d be crushed. It was sending cars flying, and it all seemed to be directed at their bus.

              “Look, Fleming,” John said with his accent, “We can’t stop if you don’t have a reasonable reason. We are tight on our schedule now. If you forgot something, you’ll get it back, we’ll have someone send it to you. Now, stop I heard en…”

The driver turned the wheel fast to avoid a car flying so suddenly that everyone was taken by surprised, and Quinn and Jessie, who were standing up, were send flying on John and Rhian.

Quinn winced in pain. She got in contact with Ann-Sophie’s weapon. It was barely a scratch, but it was still bleeding, and she was surprised. She didn’t get how Jessie hadn’t kill the coach while falling on him, though. Ann-Sophie noticed the injured player.

              “Shit, sorry,” she said, before having a panicked look. “It shouldn’t have hurt you, the same that the weapon just passed through coach. _Tabarnak_ , I was hoping you were just a mortal who could see through the mist. _Osti_! You’re one of us, then.”

 _One of us?_ What did she mean? What was the mist?

Quinn didn’t have the chance to ask, the bus crashed in a wall in a big Bang. She heard some teammates scream. John asked if someone was injured, and thought of asking players to answer one by one, by roster order. _We cannot leave a player die right here_ , Quinn thought. She didn’t know how to fight that monster. She didn’t have anything to protect her team. She hoped the monster couldn’t hurt them like swords didn’t hurt them, but she doubted it. Everyone answered. Allysha Chapman was injured, though it changed nothing for her, she was already out of the tournament because of her shoulder. Ann-Sophie answered she was fine before jumping out of a broken window, followed by Jessie.

              “Flowers, Fleming, where are you going?” John screamed.

Quinn just wanted to follow them. How could she help the girls, though? Her instincts still took over, and without thinking, she jumped out too. An adrenaline rush filled her veins. She had the impression she was made to fight, that it was in her bones, but she couldn’t explain why she had that impression.

She tried distracting the monster. If she had its attention, Jessie and Ann-Sophie could attack. She overheard the coach scream at them to come back. _If we do, we all die._ Ann-Sophie took out something from her bag and threw it at the tall player.

              “If you want to help, take this, otherwise return in the bus. You won’t be of any help if you get injured.”

She caught what Ann-Sophie gave her. A dagger. It was something good enough to attack. She did her best to hurt that monster before he did. She got scratched even more. She was continuing bleeding, but she would take care of that later. As long as she wasn’t hit bad enough to faint. She wanted to slow the monster down. She quickly noticed that a knife meant having to go closer to the monster than having a sword like her teammates. And they looked trained to fight, which was not her case. Quinn followed her instincts.

If was not a bad thing she played soccer. The number of times she avoided being killed because of rapid movements, her footsteps were quick enough. But she was exhausted after a couple of minutes fighting. She was shaking, and not feeling so well.

The monster seemed to be bothered by something, and one look down, Quinn realised there were roots around his feet trying to tie him to the asphalt. “What? Is it any of you?” she asked to the girls.

Ann-Sophie, who was the other side of the monster, grinned. How the hell did she do that? Quinn had plenty of questions, but they had to kill the beast first.

It took more than another fifteen minutes before they finally succeeded. A final hit by Jessie that left the monster disappearing into dust. Actually, dust explosion. Quinn was covered of it, especially on the front of her t-shirt. The colour and smell made her think of vomit. She was pretty sure that was what her teammates would think it was. Yew!

Quinn realised, trying to catch her breath, that there was a reason Jessie was rarely available to talk. That if she called her parents, she’d be told she wasn’t there. She was never reachable between camps. She was probably living in a place to train her. She was probably closer to Ann‑Sophie because they might be living together.

They joined the group without a word. Quinn needed to get better before asking questions. She knew she’d have time to ask them to her roommate, and being honest, she wasn’t sure she was ready to hear where monsters were from, or why the blade went through her coach like it was a cloud, while she bled right away.

Police was there when they returned to the damaged bus, as well as ambulances. After a quick listen, she found out John thought they had tried avoiding a car going the wrong way. Jessie looked at her watch.

              “I don’t think this matter now because some of us are injured, but we probably just missed our flight.”

 _Oops._ Quinn looked at her teammates, wincing in pain, or taking care of injured people. She wasn’t even sure they had noticed three players were missing for half an hour.

              “Mist hides things to mortals. And I controlled it a couple of minutes ago to make them believe in a car crash.”

              “Well, technically, it’s not a lie. We hit a wall.”

Jessie looked in her bag and offered something that looked like a cubed brownie to Quinn. Ann‑Sophie took one too. _We’re injured, and you’re giving me a brownie?_ Quinn looked at the brunette with big eyes. It was not the right time.

Until she saw some bruises on Ann-Sophie disappearing right after she took a bite. The blond girl looked at her with an encouraging smile. Quinn decided to taste it. She almost spit it in surprise. It didn’t taste brownies. It tasted maple syrup candies. And then, recomforting soup her mom made her when she was sick. Wait, what? Yew! A dessert tasting chicken noodle soup was not what she had in mind. But she could feel her body feeling better. She was a bit more energized, and the pain was slowly going away, like she had taken five different pills at the same time. Side effects less.

              “What is in this?”

              “That’s ambrosia,” Ann-Sophie answered. “That’s healing food. I’m only giving you one piece, though, because it can give you a fever. And it kills mortals. It should heal your scratch in no time. But even if Chappy was a demigod, her injuries, especially her shoulder, wouldn’t be healed before a day or two.”

Demigod. That was what she was? Wait, it couldn’t be possible. She didn’t have a god parent. Or at least, she thought.

              “Demigod, or a legacy. You could be a grand daughter of a god too. Mal Pugh from USA is. Penny Oleksiak that won us a few medals in swimming is the daughter of Neptune, roman god of the sea.” Jessie said. “They are going to my camp. I’d tell you more, but it’s not the place. Meet me in our room when Janine is away?”

Quinn nodded, Demigod stuff were probably meant to stay secret. Talking here, with all their teammates around… She was also grinning at the mention of Mal. That was weird coming from Jessie to hear _Mal Pugh_. Usually, she went with Mal, dot. Quinny was pretty sure they hadn’t break up yet.

They joined the girls. John was talking with probably people on either the Canadian Olympic Committee or Soccer Canada. They needed another flight. They had a game to play the next day… if they could. Quinny wasn’t sure how bad the team was. Sometimes, after a car crash, you feel ok, but _Hi back pain_ the following days. Could they really play a semifinals game against a country they beaten for the first time, like, a couple days ago, with an injured team? Not letting them go directly in final would be more miraculous than London bronze medal.

They all went for a quick check-up at the hospital. Some players needed to stay longer than others. John asked his players to keep him updated if any pain came. “At this point, I’m more concern for everyone’s health than tomorrow’s game. We’ll play if we have 11 players doing fine, but don’t lie to me telling me you’re ok if you’re not. We’ll see one hour at the time.”

Jessie and Ann-Sophie looked like they were about to cry. “It’s our fault,” Ann-Sophie said. “I always bring trouble, I’ll never end up bringing good in people’s life…”

Quinn made her shut up. “A monster attacked. We are three people he wanted. Don’t put the blame on you. And Jessie said it. She knows at least two other athletes competing right now. That probably just brought some monsters in. I’m pretty sure it’s a risk you’ve been living for a while with.”

Jessie made a little smile.

              “You’re right. It’s been two years that, when I can get to leave Jupiter camp for a soccer camp, I always worry about being attacked. I can’t seem to rest as much as anyone, because I’m scared to close my eyes sometimes. There was that time during qualifiers that I was roomed with Ann-So, and we would relay to sleep, both too scared to be attacked.”

Quinn realised how dangerous her life was about to turn. Could she go back to Toronto, or Duke University, without being scared everyday? Was a place to train near both those places? Where was that Jupiter Camp?

Quinn ended up falling asleep that night in her hotel room, Jessie and Ann-Sophie on her side, in the same bed, after not even a quarter of a movie on Netflix. Ann-Sophie was too comfy to move in her room to sleep next to Diana and Gabrielle. Janine didn’t bother disrupting them.

The next morning, John went in every room, very early. The three girls were doing perfectly fine, thanks to ambrosia. Janine looked ok. “More scared than in pain.” That looked to be most of the team’s comment, according to what the coach had seen so far. Was it a miracle?

They travelled on game day, without much choice. They left Sao Paulo at around 8. The game was at 4, which was quite good. It gave them time to arrive, at least, and try to stick to their usual routine the best that they could. Their whole morning was pretty much screwed, but at least, they weren’t playing at 1. That would have been horrible.

They didn’t play as well as they played the rest of the tournament, that day. But they knew they gave their best. Janine hit the wrong side of the net about ten minutes in. But ten minutes later, they were given a penalty. Damn you, Buchanan! The German player took the advantage.

There were a few times that they almost let another one in. But they got quite lucky. Then, not so long after the start of the second half, Beckie got another chance, but she was just a little wide. But then, their chances to go for a gold medal went from _maybe_ to _less likely_. Not even five minutes later, the Germans had a second goal in.

That didn’t stop Canada. They gave all they had. _Don’t give up_. But the goalkeeper was strong and made some key saves. The game ended with the result of 2-0. Canada had lost its first game of the tournament. They were disappointed. They were totally going for gold. Interviews had a sad tone. A journalist asked Jessie how she felt, and she quite said what everyone didn’t really dared saying loud, “This really sucks.” Quinn didn’t cry, but she was very disappointed. In the locker room, Jessie decided to talk, despite being one of the youngest. She had given all she had for that game.

              “Girls. I know we lost and I’ve said it sucked that we did. But I meant something else too by that. We were in a car crash yesterday, and we still fought our bodies and souls to be here. We got in this city this morning. The Germans were in perfect shape, had a good night of sleep, or most likely did compared to us. They don’t have back pain from a shock with a wall. They didn’t almost die yesterday. This sucks we got into an accident, but we were still here tonight. And we might not get the hoped medal, but we still have a chance to medal still. Let’s hang on to it. We cannot have gone through all of this to lose the bronze. Let’s show Brazil what we’re made of. I’m not afraid of Marta’s team. I fought for all your lives yesterday, Brazilian fans are not scaring me. We can win this medal, in their home country. I believe in our team. I believe in you.”

Everyone smiled and screamed to get that bronze medal. The first Canadian team in go figure out how many years to do a double. Ok, in summer sports. Everyone knew the women’s hockey team had four consecutive gold medals. But soccer, two consecutive bronze was quite a very good result they could hang on to. It was something they could do. They were unstoppable. Motivated more than ever.

 

That night, while the team was trying to get their head motivated into the next match instead of that day’s results, Quinn took Jessie aside. Asked some questions she was a bit scared to say. Jessie explained to her that roman and Greek gods existed, Mount Olympus was located in the Empire State Building’s 600th floor, and the gods could have children with mortals. There were two different camps to go, plus the Hunters and Amazons. Jessie assumed Quinn was a legacy, but she could be wrong. The blond girl asked her teammate if she was the only demigod of her family.

              “My mother is not the woman you met, it’s actually the roman god of Victory. Don’t ask why I’m good at sports, eh!” Jessie joked before going back to serious mode. “Dad told me Tristan is mom Michaele’s son, thought. She knows I am the daughter of Victoria, but I don’t think my brother knows.”

Quinn questioned on how he could not know. And what about Elysse? Jessie was living in that Jupiter camp for months now. They never see her regularly! Where did they think she was?

“Tristan and I are close enough in age that he was too young to understand pregnancies, or to even question it, so the fact I popped out of nowhere was not really weird for him, I guess. He was just too young to figure out, so they never told him. For my little sister, that is complicated. She didn’t appear in Victoria’s arms at our home like I did, and I clearly remember mom being pregnant, but my dad admitted he have cheated on mom around that time.”

Jessie tried reassuring her roommate by telling her the chances she was a demigod were lower than a legacy. If she had never ever been attacked – and Quinn was the youngest of the family compared to Jessie – she was probably not a demigod. Maybe her mother or father was. Quinn almost hoped she was a legacy. She didn’t know how she’d handle knowing one of her parents cheated. And would she learn it to one of them when she asks why she got attacked?

They talked about fears, camps and all for half an hour before Quinn started yawning. Anyway, she knew her brain couldn’t take more information. And resting was very necessary.

 

They returned to Sao Paulo for their final. If Canada had had the heart of the Brazilian fans throughout the tournament, this time they wouldn’t, for obvious reasons. But the Canadian team could manage that.

Once there, a day before the final, they were allowed to see their family for an hour. The coaching staff thinks they might be in need of that to swallow the lose. And to reassure the parents after the accident. Quinn only told her parents and asked them not to tell her sisters. She has some questions, fears having to make some revelations, and doesn’t want her sisters there. She couldn’t explain what the accident was about to them yet. After all, Jessie thought she was either a legacy of a couple of generations, or a minor god daughter, and whatever the answer was, Jill, Erin and Lauren didn’t need to hear. It could be better for them not knowing. For now.

She was sitting on her bed, thinking on how she was going to bring this, when her parents knocked. Jessie had convinced Janine to meet her parents out of the room and let Quinny alone. Her mother sat on the bed.

              “You look worried about something. What is bothering you, pretty girl?”

              “There’s something about the accident that didn’t go out in the medias,” Quinn said before taking a deep breath.

She was hesitant. She bit her lips. She wasn’t really comfortable to ask the questions she needed to ask. Either her parents had lied all her life about having godly relatives, or she’d be the one learning there was a cheater in the family. Even if the first option was frustrating, she preferred it to the second one ten thousand times. So she risked asking, because she wanted to know who she was, at the risk of looking like she had a mental illness.

“Have you ever seen monsters?”

Both her parents looked at each other. They didn’t look confused or seem to think she was crazy. They looked more disappointed than anything. Her mom sighed. She made a sign for her husband to talk.

“I have never, but your mother told me about it. Since she has been safe and never attacked up to now, so we had made the decision before we had you and Jill to not tell you. If you ask us if we heard of monster, I assume you saw one?”

“That’s how we got into an accident. Jessie and Ann-Sophie are demigods. I suppose I am a legacy, and even mom is? They explained me quite fast what demigods and legacies were.”

“That probably explain why you got attacked. You shouldn’t have been if you were the only one. Don’t tell your sisters about it. I don’t know if your teammates told you, but when you know, you attract more monsters. In my case, I never been attacked, but I don’t want to take the risk for nothing. Not for them. And promise me you’ll be careful.”

              “I can try my best, but I am not the one deciding, mom. Who is the god?”

              “Mars. Roman god of war is my grand father.”

Quinn made a little smile. “That explain why my instincts was to join Jessie and Ann-Sophie in the battle.”

She had expected to be a legacy. But not a fourth generation one. She almost thought she was further in the generations. None of what her mother said shocked her. The initial shock that monsters and gods existed was still quite there, but she wasn’t mad about her parents lying. They meant her good. She was relieved they both knew. But she didn’t know how she as supposed to lie to her sisters for the rest of her life. Especially to Jillian. They might not be the closest twin set you meet, but Jill was still her twin.

              “So Jessie Fleming is a demigod? That’s almost surprising you never got attacked considering the number of times you’ve been roomed! Is it because of that new girl on the team, Ann-Sophie is her name, I think?”

Quinn looked at her mom thinking, “How the hell am I supposed to know why?” But it’s her father who answered.

              “Who knows how they never did and thanks gods. And that’s not what’s important here. Becca probably feels bad enough for the attack that led to a bus crash. A couple of teammates got hurt, don’t try putting the blame on anyone, please?”

Her mother looked at him with a _did I say you could talk_ look, and then looked at her daughter.

              “I know a place where you can go and train, but we’ll discuss it at home, I just heard a knock and I don’t feel like talking about that.”

Quinn nodded. She didn’t tell them Jessie had talked about Half-Blood and Jupiter camps. She couldn’t recall if her mother had said Mars was a roman or a Greek god. She had to ask Jessie or Ann-Sophie. Which one would she follow and live with for the next years to come? It didn’t cross her mind that she probably had to drop out of school. Duke was far in her mind, at that point. She was a god legacy, and she needed to learn how to defend herself. Her life was suddenly changing, and she didn’t know how to react to it. She had expected to feel mad, but for some reasons, she felt like there wouldn’t be any emotion showing. She couldn’t even think of how she felt. The emotion part of her brain felt like it was emptied. Quinn thought it would all catch up later in the day. Hopefully, just not on the field tomorrow, she thought.

She was neutral about having to go to a camp. Jessie had mostly good about it, and Quinn was pretty sure Ann-Sophie felt the same. But she was not excited to go either. Nor frustrated. She was more scared for her life than anything. Yeah, that was actually how she felt. Scared. Camps were secured, but what about her life outside of it? Jessie and Ann-Sophie were both in Brazil with her, soccer camps didn’t seem to be a problem, but would they get attacked again?

The thought of still being able to play the sport she loved so much made Quinn smile as her parents left and let Janine enter.

              “Hey. Feels good to see some family? Where are your sisters? I thought you said they were in here.”

              “Yeah, but they had another plan, I told my family quite last minute. I’m still happy my parents showed up. Especially considering the last couple of days, I needed them. That’s not a bad thing Erin, Jill and Lauren didn’t show up. You saw your mom?”

              “Cool. Yes I got the time to catch up a little. I hope I didn’t make your parents leave…”

              “No,” Quinn lied. “They were already leaving. They came, but they had to postpone a little their plan. So they couldn’t stay longer.”

They would have stayed silent for a bad five minutes, but thankfully, a team meeting was called.

 

Quinn was excited for the final. The crowd was loud -not very cheering on them but whatever – the streak was high. They knew it’d be quite emotional. Either waves of joy, or crying your life even more than when they lost to Germany.

Quinn was starting the game. It started with some hopes on the Canadian side, with a penalty kick the captain took. Quinn watched her from the defense line take the shot, but she hit the post. And the ball bounced out for the Canadian team to be able to aim it.

Near the 25th minute, Ashley Lawrence was able to run on the left side and got the chance to distance from the Brazilian chasing her. Not from a big distance, but enough to approach the goal and make a direct pass to Deanne Rose. Quinn ran to them as Deanne and Jessie celebrated the goal.

Quinn was not playing for the second half of the game. But she knew she had helped her team, and all she could do was watch them win against Brazil, hopefully. In the first five minutes after half-time, Jessie started a play that led to a second goal. She dribbled through some Brazilians before passing forward at a run distance to Rose, behind the defenders’ line. Rose got to it, making sure she wasn’t offsides. But she had no angle. Christine was in the box too, and the pass was made. It wasn’t a ball you could redirect right away on net, but Christine Sinclair was not a rookie, and ended up aiming it perfectly. 2-0 against the host nation. Group hug felt so well, and the coach reaction was priceless every time they scored.

Deanne Rose almost made it 3-0, after a ball headed by a player Quinn couldn’t tell well who it was from the bench. The ball bounced its way a little behind a Brazilian, and the speed of Deanne being quite impressive, she reached to it. She shot the ball in sandwich between two yellow jersey, and sadly hit the post. There was still half an hour to play, and Canada was looking to keep their two goals lead.

With a bit more than ten minutes remaining, Rafaelle was on the sidelines, throwing a ball in near the corner. Canada placed themselves like it was actually a corner. The ball went directly in front of the net. The Canadian team tried to head it away but all missed it, and the ball bounced on the feet of a Brazilian player. Steph Labbé tried to stop it from entering her net. But it wasn’t enough. Quinn felt a little pressure, they were starting to feel comfortable with their lead. Maybe a little too much, actually. She watched the scorer go in net take the ball to celebrate with her crowd and team, feeling the tension as the Brazilians were loud. Very loud. But Quinny still thought they would win it. They were still leading by a goal. It was Canada’s game.

And a bit more than ten minutes later, the final whistle got heard. Quinn didn’t remember screaming that loud. She was not only an Olympian. She was a bronze medalist. She ran to her teammates. Celebration was one of the things Quinny liked the most. A feeling she would never get tired of.

When they received their medals was another moment she would never forget. Having a bronze medal put in your neck, it was just incredible. There were no words to describe how it felt. All she worked for, the moment of exhaustions, the moments you feel like giving up, they were all worth it. She was doing it to make her country proud. To be proud of herself. To win that one more game to make her way in the tournament. And the team had done it.

Quinn knew starting the tournament that this team was special. And they had proven it. A good mix of youth and veterans. It was no secret it was the last Olympics for a couple of players. Tanc. Buddy. Rhi. Sincy hadn’t said it was her last, she could still go for another cycle. But they were all big players and big shoes to fill. Quinn didn’t know what the team would look like in two years, but she knew that Canada was getting better and better. London bronze was quite lucky, Rio’s one had felt like a disappointment not getting a better colour. Even if Quinn felt they’d be golden if they didn’t have a bad semi-final, if they didn’t crash into a wall, she still wanted to be proud of that third-place finish. But the team was ready to shine and had showed the world.

She wished she never had to leave the field. The number of pictures she took was enormous. She got good shots with everyone on the team. Laughed at Jessie’s smile. She always found a way to stick out her tongue between her teeth without wanting it. Quinny didn’t want to admit, but it was freaking cute.


	2. It was not exactly what I had in mind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now that Quinn learned she is a legacy, she needs to go train somewhere. Will she like what her mom will tell her once at home? And when she gets there, will she like it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spoiler alert: If you are also reading the part 3 of this series, I suggest to skip the parts where there are mentions of prison duty/Mark Knight. It might reveal one of the things that happens in Ann-Sophie's story.

Quinn was mad at her mother. After one day of resting at home, her parents decided to have a conversation with her. And things didn’t go how the bronze medalist wanted.

              “I know we haven’t been able to talk to you a lot about this and we were limited in our time. I’m sorry, you probably had tons of questions and we couldn’t be there for you. I wish you had learned any other way,” her mother said.

She was referring to the great-grand-father being a god, right?

              “Well, my teammates have been able to answer most of them. I guess I have to call at Duke to cancel my classes and tell my team I won’t be back? Because I checked with the girls and Mars is a roman god. I kind of wished he was Greek, I would have gone to Camp Half-Blood for summers only, but… where do I need to go for Jupiter Camp? Do you know where to find… uh, Lupa? Jessie couldn’t really tell me, she was quite lost, it was the youth program coach that lead her there, Jessie didn’t actually read any signs or nearby cities.”

              “You are absolutely not going to camp Jupiter. You can’t.”

What? It was bad enough that the camp she wanted to go was the wrong one, now her second choice was out of question? And where was she supposed to go? Nowhere? Her mom knew she’d be attacked more often now she knew who she was! Quinn tone became more on the defensive.

              “You don’t want me to join a camp, then? Who will train me? What if I go to Duke and get attacked? If it was not from Ann-So and Jess, I’d be dead, you know that?”

              “You’re going to train for sure. You call Duke. But you can’t join either Jupiter or Half‑Blood camp. Because there is another group I was in, and I promised that if I ever told any of you girls, you’d go there too. I just hope that you’ll be as happy as I was with them. You don’t have as much of an entrepreneur vibe as me, but I think you can still make your way with the Amazons.”

The Amazons. Quinn couldn’t tell if the girls had talked about them. Maybe a mention they existed? But the newly bronze medalist couldn’t recall more than that.

              “Really? And what if I want to go to the camp Jessie is in? What if she told me a lot of great stuff to learn there, and that I think I could fit?”

She didn’t really know. Jessie had covered the basics of the life in New Rome. But Amazons was not something that looked appealing for the blond girl. Entrepreneurs? Quinny was majoring in biology. Not in business related stuff, like management or accounting! And since when having that vibe was helpful? Who were the Amazons?

She asked the questions to her mother.

              “They are in fact the owners of the company Amazon. They run it. You start in Seattle, where they are based. You will learn how it work, there is also training scheduled during the day, and you learn plenty of stuff about monsters and the gods working there without even knowing it. The number of books about mythology written by demigods and legacy is immense. You have access to ambrosia and nectar and weapon almost at will, since it’s them who delivers to other people. There is actually only one website safe for you and your friends.”

So the Amazons were running an enterprise. And they trained people to fight at the same time.

              “That’s why I work at Amazon. At some point in my life, I got the chance to go back home and run Amazon Canada, in Toronto. They basically trained me even if I never had to fight a single monster, for some reasons. Hopefully it will be your case too.”

Quinn was not very at ease. What she thought was going to discuss with her parents the needs to give up on education turned into a completely different plan. She wasn’t sure she’d like being an Amazon. But one sure thing: she needed to call her university.

She felt a little sad about quitting Duke. She liked it there. She only had good words on the team, and the education she had had. The thoughts of never having the chance to say goodbye to teammates hurt her.

              “I know it’s tough to be in this position, sweetheart, but if you want to survive, you have to go train. I can call the Queen and talk about your soccer career to see if she can let you go to camps.”

The Olympian paled. Jessie had had a hard time getting out of there for said camps. Would she be able to play? Even find a team?

She asked a couple more questions to her mother about the Amazons. Said she’d take the night to think it through. Quinn had made her mind about camp Jupiter, and now here she was fighting her mom about those Amazons. She didn’t want to go. But being her daughter gave her no options.

She went to bed trying to make up her mind, but she couldn’t. She didn’t feel any curiosity for the Amazons for now. Maybe it was just because she was forced to go there? Or that she thought of being with Jessie all year long? They were pretty much best friend.

_Is it that bad, the Amazons? Can you really tell you will hate it if you don’t try? There must be options at this place for everyone, no matter how talented you are at running business or not, right?_

She realised in the middle of the night, still awake. Seattle. That was where they were based. Seattle Reign. The NWSL club. There was a team to play for! Finally, was it a bad thing she wouldn’t go to Jupiter camp? Jessie didn’t have any team to play for. She left California to join the Canadian team for the Olympics not knowing if the NCAA would have a team in the protected city or not. Could Quinn take the chance of having no team to play in at all?

It took her a couple of days to figure out her next step. She still considered doing like nothing happened and fly to North Carolina, but she found herself fearing an attack. She had to do at least a couple of months of training before going out to the “real world” again. Just to learn the basics to fight monsters. Survive, in fact, in this world. It was a couple of months she didn’t have. The NCAA soccer season was mostly in the fall, and she was already a redshirt senior. She couldn’t skip another year. Her college career was already over, no matter what option she took.

Quinny wished she could have called someone to help her making the right decision. Because after a couple of days arguing, Quinn realised her mother wouldn’t change her mind. She didn’t consider any option that didn’t start by A-m-a-z-o-n. They fought a little over it. And she didn’t have the right kind of cellphone to call Jessie or Ann-Sophie. She had the one she always used that would attract monsters. Quinn thought she had never been attacked before, so the risks were quite low, but her mother refused to let her touch it. Her father actually took it from her.

Her father had stayed quite silent the whole time. He talked only when his wife let him, and he agreed on everything she said. Like he didn’t have an opinion. It was true that her mom was the decision-maker of the family, but Quinn felt like he was more silent lately. He had always been quite reserved, but she had never noticed how much he did. She faced him one night.

              “I want you to be happy, but I know the Amazons will train you well. Please go to Seattle. I prefer having you safe than in Duke. You don’t have to worry about your education. After a couple of years in Seattle, you will be considered like having a diploma because of work experience. Your mother went through it. And the Amazons give you job until you retire, really. And you’ll find things you like there, I know it. I know you, honey.”

Quinn found it had its positive. But she was just so scared of not liking the business side of it. But she trusted her dad. She sighed. She had to give them a chance. If she didn’t like it, her mom wouldn’t be able to say anything, and she could probably make the Camp choice for herself, right?

She heard her mother talk with someone who looked to be the big boss at Amazon. She heard the word soccer a couple of times. Her mother was making sure they’d let her go to national team camps and friendlies? Quinn couldn’t help but smile.

              “They are waiting for you in two days. You already called at Duke anyway, right?”

Quinn nodded. She had made her decision to give up on Duke. If the Amazon didn’t fit, she’d go in Jupiter camp. There was a university in town. She’d finish her degree there if needed. Now, she had to pack her bags. A new life was waiting for her, and despite not being very ready for it, she took the challenge like she takes a soccer tournament. One day at the time.

 

She landed in Seattle in the middle of the afternoon. Quinn was nervous. She was scared of getting lost, and she didn’t know what to expect from being an Amazon. Her mother had tried preparing her in the last few days. Quinn knew she’d work for the company. But else than that, not really. What would be her job exactly? Did they do rotation, or her task would always be the same? Would she like it? Were they working a lot, or they had 8 to 4 work shifts like most people? Where did they live? Her mother had not told her about renting an apartment, and Quinn found it odd.

              “Relax, Quinny. You’ll know all of this during your meeting with the Queen,” she thought to herself.

She already knew she had a meeting with the Queen, as soon as she got there. Technically, the meeting was at 3:30. It meant she had about 45 minutes to find the building and go to her office. She couldn’t use internet to find where she was, like she did a thousand times in new cities before.

Jessie had explained it was too risky. Her mother had kept her cellphone. How was she supposed to communicate with her teammates from Duke and Team Canada? It was bad enough that she quit university without leaving any kind of logical explanation. She was only a fourth-generation legacy, but since the god was Mars, her demigod friends weren’t sure about using technology. Quinny was a bit pissed she was the only one going to the Amazons. What about her sisters? Rebecca was the best soccer player, but it was Jillian who got to stay in the NCAA! So unfair! She was jealous of her twin. She’d never graduate now.

She asked to a few locals about the location of the enterprise. She finally found her way. She didn’t know really what to expect. Her mother had been the vaguest possible. _No, but can you help me more than this?_ Quinn was pissed at her mother. It was her fault. She should have been training with Lupa right now, but she was stuck in Grey’s Anatomy’s land!

She finally spotted the logo. She entered the building, feeling a rush of febrility hitting her. She was there now, it was her game to play. She couldn’t go back. This was her new life. Somewhere around, her new home. She was so nervous she didn’t even notice how big the building was from the outside.

A woman was there, at the entrance, for security. She stopped to talk to her.

              “I’m Rebecca Quinn, my mother works for Amazon in Toronto. I have an interview with Ms. Hylla in about 15 minutes,” Quinn said, with a polite smile. She didn’t know how she was able to recall the Queen’s name at that moment. She wished she remembered her last name, because it would have made more professional, but too bad. Maybe they wouldn’t take her, and she would be “ _forced”_ to go to Camp Jupiter join Jessie? She hoped it could work if only she screwed up enough.

              “Ms. Hylla is waiting for you, I’ll have someone guide you.”

After a five-minute wait, another woman appeared. She had long blond hair, thicker than Quinn’s. As soon as she talked, Quinn figured out she was British. Her accent was very similar to her head coach, Herdman, and she wondered if they were from the same place. The woman looked to be a little younger than Rebecca, though, and it was a little intimidating. She wondered if she’d be the oldest “rookie”. She wouldn’t be surprised. In Jupiter Camp, Jessie was considered an old _probatio_ when she arrived at camp at 16. Quinn followed the blond-hair girl. She didn’t know if she should start a conversation or something. She was quite nervous, and her guide could probably feel it.

Quinn couldn’t help but look around, but she didn’t get the chance to see much. They only went up in an escalator, and then took a hallway. Quinn didn’t even bother noticing what floor she had stopped to. They finally arrived at a door, which had an indication of who that office belonged to. Hylla Ramírez-Arellano. No wonder why Quinn never recalled her last name!

After a knock, the door opened.

              “Hi Maia. Is it the meeting I am supposed to have in 10?”

Blond hair answered positively. Quinn faced a woman with dark hair. She looked to be maybe five years older than her. Her dark eyes felt like a _don’t mess with me or you’ll die_ kind of thing, and Quinn wasn’t really feeling good about this. The Queen looked fierce. Quinny was lacking that, right now.

              “Good,” Hylla said. “You must be Rebecca Quinn, then. You can sit. I’ve had the chance to talk to your mom, who announced your arrival. She told me you were the only one of your siblings coming. Why is that?”

              “I play soccer with two demigods. We got attacked and I wished I had been more useful. Since I learned about that world I am part of, my mother thought it would be better I learn how to fight and all. Being a legacy of a Roman god, I thought I’d go to Camp Jupiter my roommate told me about, but I guess my name was kind of in your list? In fact, my sisters don’t even know who they are, mom wanted them to be safe, we’ve never been attacked once before. I wouldn’t have been attacked if it wasn’t from Jessie and Ann-So.”

Hylla was a good listener. She didn’t say anything while Rebecca talked about herself. The blond girl had thousands of questions about the Amazons, but she figured out not to ask them all today.

“That makes sense. I am pleased to have you in our ranks. Maybe my sister would have liked having you in Camp Jupiter too, but I guess I won this battle? I think I know whose Jessie you’re referring to. Reyna wanted me to watch Canada because of her. We both love football.”

It took a few seconds to realise Reyna was probably Hylla’s sister. Was her sister one of Camp Jupiter leaders? She had to ask Jessie.

              “Listen, Rebecca. Mars is the god we admire the most. Usually, I give a privilege to his legacies. Since you play soccer, I thought I could give you more day offs for you to go to camps with Canada. What do you think?”

Quinn was shocked. She never expected being able to go to those camps so easily. Jessie had had a hard time to do so at first. And Mal Pugh was still having a hard time, the leader of her group didn’t like her. Ann-Sophie was the luckiest for that, she had the right to go unless behavior problems Quinn was still trying to figure out what they were. Apparently, the Demeter daughter was something before Rebecca knew her.

It was very hard to hide her excitement. She wanted to bring the soccer part at some point in the conversation, but that early? And it was this positive? Wow!

              “As I said before, I watched what I could of the Olympics. My sister convinced me to watch your friend Jessie Fleming. I wish I had known back then about your mother being one of ours, I would have paid more attention to you. I don’t want our company to stop you from pursuing your athlete career.”

That was it, she was as red as Jessie after running a mile. But she felt great. She could play soccer for Canada. The Queen herself was supportive. Hylla continued before Quinn could talk.

              “I’ve been told about how many camps you can have in a year by Reyna. Having you here instead of in a Canada game is like if Jessie didn’t get to play either, I’m pretty sure. It wouldn’t make sense. So when you have camps, tell me, I’ll free you. I might just ask you to make some special deliveries depending on circumstances. It once happened we moved instead of sending things by mail.”

Quinn smiled. Jessie was a promising player for sure. She was worth watching.

              “Thank you. I hope I can find somewhere to train around here, actually. I have tons of questions about the Amazons, for some reasons my mother didn’t answer me very well. Can I ask them, or it’s not very welcome? You know, I’m still trying to figure things out. How it works here and all.”

The Queen made a sign to continue. She explained how working with the amazons worked quite fast, before looking at the clock.

              “I am sorry, Rebecca, but I’ll have to end this meeting. I am supposed to skype with my sister in a couple of minutes. Maia is still at the door, she’s a good amazon, I am confident she’ll answer to most of your questions.”

After a firm handshake, Quinn left the office. The girl named Maia was waiting for her, next to Quinn’s belongings.

Maia made her visit. She thought she’d get lost in not even a minute if she was left alone. The building was huge! The warehouse was bigger than five football field put aside, she thought.

She passed next to many Amazons on her way there. Maia presented her to a couple of them, but Quinn couldn’t really remember their names. It was too much information for her brain at the same time.

She noticed there was many people in orange suits. It looked ridiculous, and Quinn couldn’t help but wonder why they wore that. She didn’t notice, but apparently, she had a weird face and pointed them, because Maia said,

              “Men are not slaves, before you ask. We just like them… submissive. We don’t hate them like the hunters do. A lot of us has boyfriends. They just understand who leads here. They are free to go if they want, but a lot of them are guided by the pay that comes with it. We need them to lift heavy things and stuff like that.”

Quinn felt her stomach knotting. She always thought men and women were equal. Or actually, that it was the opposite if something. The world was mostly run by men. She just had to look at Christine Sinclair salary compared to any men footballer. Seeing them wear those ridiculous suits made her feel uncomfortable. They looked like freaking prisoners! What world had she fallen in?

They continued their way, but Quinn couldn’t help but feel bad. It felt so wrong to her brain. She started having trouble breathing. She still didn’t understand why she felt so panicked. She tried telling herself that she’d get used to them wearing those clothes, that they were free to leave if they wanted, but she still wanted to throw up. Was she compelled to treat them this way? If she decided to treat men equal, would she be told not to?

She tried focussing on other things. The building was impressive She could get lost easily in the warehouse and all those hallways. The gym and cafeteria were attracting for the athlete she was. She felt her luggage was starting to be heavy. Her arms, her back and her neck were sore now. She stopped.

              “I’ll call a boy to bring it to your room,” Maia said. It seemed so natural. All that Quinn wanted was a minute break, or put them somewhere and then take them when the visit is over.

Quinn realised Maia had talked about a room. So she didn’t have to search for an apartment? She asked the question to the British girl.

              “You will live in the dorm for the first five year or so. Then, you get to have an apartment with the people you want, with a room by person, you don’t need to go to the cafeteria, and you share a bathroom for five instead of like twenty. But you have to clean it. Five years later, you have your own apartment to yourself. More you spend time here, higher in the tower you go. The view of the Queen’s loft is said to be breathtaking.”

Quinn was a bit surprised to hear they all lived in the building, but at the same time, she wasn’t that shocked. She was coming from a university that had all their students from Freshman to Junior – not only the athletes – be in the dorms. She was used to not have her personal bathroom and having to used toilets like in public bathrooms. And share a room with someone else. That was how she lived in Duke.

While Maia explained how the living situation worked, a man had arrived to take the luggage she had identified to R. Quinn. Rebecca couldn’t help but staring down when he got there and took all her belongings like that was totally normal. The only reason Maia seemed to know his name was because he had a name tag! Like what the hell?

They continued their way, and Maia presented Quinn to the Amazons she knew. It was weird, but Quinny couldn’t help but feeling nervous every time she was presented to someone new. Why her body was that tense today? Yeah, things were all new, but those girls were all hierarchically equal to Quinn. Meeting the Queen was a no brainer to make her nervous, and that was to be expected, but Maia’s friends?

Maia made a little detour at some point, so Quinn could meet her best friend. Her name was Rhian, and the only reason she knew she’d remember is because of her Team Canada teammate. It made the Canadian smile. She looked nothing like the Rhian Rebecca knew. This one was descending of an Asian clearly, was Diana Matheson kind of small, and quite thin. Nothing like Wilkinson!

They finally went for the dorm Quinn would live in. The hallway was quite long. She spotted a laundry room, a living room with some sofas and tv, a small kitchen with only microwaves. The bathrooms obviously. Then, they got to her room. She was not very far from the bathroom and she hoped she wouldn’t hear everyone shower.

She opened the door with the key Maia gave her. Then stopped at the entrance, in surprise. Everything was placed exactly like in her last room she had had at Duke. She probably let a sound out of her mouth.

              “Let me guess, you had a big room at home and you find your personal space small, Rebecca?” Maia said, grinning.

Quinn couldn’t help but turn red. She had not talked much about herself.

              “I was living in a dorm at university. It’s like something you can’t really avoid when you’re in your first years being a student athlete. I’m just surprised because that’s exactly like my sophomore room in Duke. It’s weird.”

Maia frowned. Like she didn’t expect Quinn to have pursue an education to university. How old did she think she was? Or maybe she knew about Duke? Quinny shrugged. It didn’t really matter, what Maia thought of her.

Quinn noticed the room didn’t look to be used. Nothing on the walls, two beds perfectly made, a bit of dust on every surface, which was totally free of anything. She had the room for herself? That was good news. She didn’t need to share space until someone else came in.

As she put some of her things on one of the beds, she looked at the British.

              “If you want, you can call me Quinny. I’m used to get called this more than my name, actually.”

It was not really an invitation to do so, that was just how she liked to be called. She didn’t have to be friend with her to ask that. The girl just nodded before leaving the room to let the newcomer make herself comfortable in her room. She stopped suddenly and went back a few feet, so Quinn could see her in the hallway.

              “Your first day of work starts tomorrow. Welcome again. So you want me to come pick you up to show you where to go? I know we’ve walked a lot, you are probably lost right now uh? And I’ll make sure someone goes to the cafeteria with you tonight?”

Quinn nodded, with a big smile. Now Maia said it, she had no clue where she was at the moment in the building. Maia left, and Quinn closed the door for some intimacy. She sat on her bed and looked in the window. She took some deep breath.

She wasn’t sure she’d like this place. She felt nauseous as soon as she thought of those ugly orange suits. It was the first time she felt this way. She didn’t understand. Yeah, she didn’t approve on their way to treat men, but to the point of being near a panic attack? She had to calm herself, as she felt her heart pounding again.

She decided calling someone would help her. Maia had made her stop on their way to the technology inventory room. The woman had told her to pick a cellphone in those “safe for demigods”. Quinn couldn’t help but smile recalling how she thought Jessie was dinosaur for not having a cellphone. She had one, but just couldn’t join any mortal or use Facebook!

Jessie. It was the perfect person to call. Her Camp roomie knew was it was to be thrown in a very different environment and feeling like you shouldn’t be there. When Jessie arrived at Camp Jupiter, they didn’t want her to leave the camp for like, a friendly, until she wasn’t a _probatio_ anymore. She had missed an important camp with the Canadian team back then, for that reason. And now, Jessie was happy there. Or at least, she seemed to love it. She had been quite convincing when she talked about it the other day to make Quinn not want to go to the Amazons! She wished she could have gone two states under and join her friend at that camp. Really mom, why the Amazons?

Quinn was about to hang up, giving up on Jessie answering, when she heard a familiar voice.

              “Hello? Who am I talking to?” her voice said.

Quinn realised she had taken Jessie’s number, but the brunette didn’t know hers. And it was too early to have her name appear on the call display.

              “It’s Quinny. That’s my demigod number, I strongly suggest you update your contacts!” Rebecca said with a laugh.

Jessie asked the inevitable question. “How is the place? What’s your first opinion?”

Quinny started crying. She didn’t know what to think about it. Their training methods looked quite nice to learn, working was probably going to be ok once she gets used not to be in class anymore. But she didn’t feel like she belonged right away like Ann-Sophie had felt entering Camp Half-Blood. Quinn stomach was still knotted. She couldn’t lie to her best friend. Jessie was not stupid, her teammate was not crying for fun!

Jessie tried to be reassuring. She had been there too. “My first weeks at Jupiter camp, I hated it! Back then we didn’t have cellphones, and I went in the praetor’s office a couple times to call my dad, crying. Now, I’m loving it here, and I don’t want to leave New Rome if I can have a place to play. I’m sure you’ll feel the same in a matter of time. Have you talked about soccer options with colleagues or your leader… she’s called the Queen, right?”

Quinn smiled. Gave her best friend the good news. She would show up at the next camp no problem. She just had to make sure the coach had a way to reach her without compromising her own security. She asked Jessie how she did it.

              “I don’t know how Bev used the mist to make Soccer Canada believe she was the one having to call me and Ann-Sophie every time. But she has our number and she is the one delivering the news for every camp and games. I’ll send your number.”

It took a few seconds to realise who Jessie was referring to. Bev Priestman. She was a coach in the youth program. Why was _she_ making the calls? Yeah, the two girls were still in the U20, but they were also on the senior team. And Bev knew about the mythology existence?

They talked for a while, but then, someone knocked at the door. Quinn opened, still on the phone with Jessie. It was a black woman Maia had presented to her, but she couldn’t recall her name at all. She had similar hair to Kadeisha.

              “Flem, can I call you back? I have someone at my door. I’ll text you later? And yeah, please send my number to Bev, I’d like to be informed about the next time I’m on the roster!”

She hung up with a smile.

              “I’m not going to ask you if you know my name yet, don’t worry. One of my friends wanted to catch a soccer game in town, and I overheard you mentioning you play, so I figured we could ask you to come over?”

Quinn smiled. That was nice. She asked what they were going to watch.

              “My friend told me it’s a game of the National women’s soccer league. Seattle… Reign against Portland, don’t ask me the opponent team name. Have you ever heard of them?”

Quinn made a face.

              “You’ve got to be kidding, right? Portland is my captain’s team. I think she is still in Canada, sadly, but I think there is a few American players already back on the roster. They were eliminated before us in Rio,” Quinn explained fast.

She didn’t want the girl to know yet at what level she played. She didn’t want everyone to know, it was too soon. Get a feeling of how things worked here before bragging about anything. She didn’t want unnecessary attention. And playing for your country instead of working, could it be badly seen?

The woman didn’t ask questions to Quinny on how she knew a player from the Thorns. The newcomer followed the woman outside with only a coat, IDs and money in her pockets. The weather was not very clear that day, and Quinn didn’t want to be wet for the whole game.

They got to the game, on a group of five. The girl who had knocked, who turned out to be named Ashlyn, Maia, that Asian named Rhian, and one of their friends who was the soccer fan, and that Rebecca never understood her name. She was already talking about starting chants for Seattle, and Quinn felt a little bad. She had a feeling she’d end up cheering on the opponents. Because it was Christine’s team. She might not be there that night, but Quinn knew that if Christine Sinclair learned that she was at that game cheering on the rival team, she’d hear about it for ages.

Quinn kept her voice quite silent. She didn’t want to cheer loud on Portland. She was around plenty of Seattle fans, with girls she didn’t know. She made a little face when Seattle scored in the 27th minute. Ugh.

              “Why are you that silent?” Rhian asked.

              “She probably cheers on Portland,” Maia replied, “she’s from Toronto, she probably cheers on the Canadian girl on the roster. Uh, Sinclair?

Maia pointed on the printed roster the name of absent Sinclair, so her friends could see the one she was talking about. Quinn let a little laugh.

              “She told me a player is her captain in the team she played for, can a player play for two teams at the same time?” Ashlyn add.

The girl Quinn couldn’t remember her name looked at the soccer player, incredulous.

              “You played with Christine Sinclair? She’s like fifteen years older than you, how is it possible? What she means is you know any other player, right? You played with one in high school? Aren’t they all older than you?”

The blond girl made a little smile.

              “I suggest you look at Rio Olympic Canadian roster. You might notice another name you know…”

It was a big enough hint, right?

              “LR it. Who else can Rebecca know? And how are we supposed to know who she knows?”

She was trying her best to hide her laughs. They were naïve! She saw Rhian taking her phone by curiosity. Went on an app called LegacyResearch, which looked like Google, to be honest. Probably the equivalent, with the same information and even more about legacies and demigods, while being safe for them. “ _LR it”_ was probably the equivalent expression of “google it.”

Wearing number 5, Rebecca assumed they’d see her name soon enough. But the four girls next to her seemed to be needing of glasses. Or Rhian scrolled down way too fast. When she got at the end of the roster, Quinn suggested to go look at the name of the fifth player.

She stopped on the picture of Shelina.

              “I said number 5. Not four. Go down just a little.”

She was totally messing up with them. She could just have said it.

              “Why does she look like… Rebecca Quinn! No freaking way! You went to Rio? Is it why you never came here before?”

              “Learned it because too many _you know what_ on the team and we’ve got attacked. When we’re the three of us alone, we seem to be totally fine in the mortal world, but when we’re together… I learned about being a legacy less than two weeks ago, really. My mom works for Amazon, she knew where to send me.”

She explained the whole story, while the four girls were totally shocked. They had an Olympian working with them. She was even a medalist. She still asked them to not talk about it.

              “Why?” one of the girls at Quinny’s right asked.

              “You know, I’m new here, I want to make a name for myself for what I do for Amazon, and how I train to fight for my life. Soccer is not something that matters for the enterprise, I’m pretty sure. I don’t want to talk about being a soccer player until my next call to play for my country. That said, you might find me in the gym during free time.”

They all smiled. Where else could she be? She was an athlete for Canada. Spending time at the gym was required. And to be honest, Quinn loved it. When she was at the gym, she was thinking about nothing else than training. Stress, school, friends, family, anything else, was put aside.

The game ended with a win for Seattle. 3-1. They went back and went directly to the cafeteria. Quinn was very hungry. The group chatted about where they were from, their favorite thing to do, etc. She was trying to get to know them a little, and they were all curious about the new Canadian amazon in their ranks. Quinn tried keeping topics out of soccer. They had talked about it enough at the game, and with all those people around, it was not the beset idea.

Quinn went to bed very early that evening. She hadn’t slept well the night before due to stress. Everything was so new to her. And she had been scared to be attacked on her way from Toronto. She felt the anxiety would go away after a couple of days, when she’d get used to the routine. One thing she was curious about was training. Learning how to fight. Hopefully, she’d be as attentive in monster knowledge classes than when she was at Duke.

She had a bad nightmare during her first night. Monsters attacking her down the street. Ugh. Her decision to come over to Seattle was not a bad one, after all. She couldn’t see herself having that kind of nightmare in Durham. She would have never been able to fall back to sleep.

 

The first days went quite well. Exhausting, though. With all the information sent to her brain, she felt like she could sleep for a whole day, and woke up with that thought for three days straight. At least, she wasn’t switching task every couple of days like the others. She would learn how to do one thing from A to Z before trying something new. Working in the warehouse was quite… boring. She was always searching for where things were, and every time someone would see her taking something said heavy, they’d stop her to send a man.

              “I lift more in my regular training session. That’s nothing for me. I’m not gonna get hut!”

An orange suit still arrived to help her taking the said box. Quinn rolled her eyes. She didn’t want to need them, and seeing those ugly onesies made her feel bad. She wished she could just tell the boy to go change in regular clothes.

Quinn at least made the efforts to get to know the boys in the warehouse. They were human, after all, not slaves! She thought they deserved maybe a little more respect. One boy admitted to her that she was the only nice person to him that day. Oh well… She felt her stomach knotting. Was she ever going to get used to that?

She didn’t expect to love learning about monsters. But even if it was very different from the biology and chemistry classes she had at Duke, she somehow found it quite interesting. And it was quite useful too. Knowing what to avoid against some monsters, their weaknesses and how to kill them efficiently was information she needed to know. No way she kept her eyes and ears closed during classes. She also loved the fighting classes. The first weeks, she was beaten every time someone would fight against her. One on one sword battle was not a sport she seemed to be good at. But after practicing it, she was starting to see some improvement. She needed to. Her life could depend on it.

 

She had reached a couple of players form the Reign. The season was now over, but some players were still living there. She asked if she could train with them. If she wanted to keep her spot on the Canadian squad, and have more playtime, she needed a team, or at least good players to play with.

It took about two months for Quinn to settle in completely and being comfortable with all tasks. It was during her last job to learn period that she got a roommate. Just when she was starting to get used to have her own room! But she didn’t really mind, she knew as soon as someone new entered, she’d be roomed with her. She just wished things would go well with Charlotte.

The girl seemed to be nice. But very outgoing. One of the first things Rebecca learned about her was how much drinks she could have before not being able to walk. She was bragging. So she got a party girl as a roommate? There was one that was not going to like the early alarms to training. Quinn knew they wouldn’t have the same schedule. She liked waking up early to train and play soccer, Charlotte would go to bed late and wake up late. Like seriously? Did they really had to be roommate?

Quinn soon realised that her schedule followed three weeks on four the one to a girl named Ava. A girl with long blond hair, very positive person who always had that smile. Funny, but who could be serious when needed. Fun to work with, actually. And since they had the same shifts most of the time, they would go eat by the same hour. Ava even proposed to be her gym buddy.

              “I am not athletic like you, though. I want to do it to improve my fighting skills. Feel free to laugh at the very little weight I can lift…”

Quinn knew she wouldn’t mock. She was not that person. Training at the gym was not something Ava was into, but Quinn appreciated the efforts. At least, the Canadian didn’t have to try to find ways to motivate her. Ok, yeah, sometimes, her friend would need that extra push not to postpone her training, but it was ok. Quinn also had those days. She just couldn’t skip at wish because she was on Team Canada. Unless injury, she had to find the motivation to get up and walk through those gym doors. It was not always an easy task. Athletes sometimes questioned why they were continuing, but it never lasted long in Quinny’s case. Taking a break from soccer was not something she wanted to do. Oh no!

Quinn might have dropped out of Duke, but she was still following the team’s season. They were playing well. She tried staying in contacts with her good friends on the Blue Devils squad. It was not an easy thing to do. The technology that didn’t fit together was bothering her. And a lot of teammates were disappointed that one of their best midfields had quit without a good explanation. A couple of girls hadn’t talked to her since August. It was a little hurting, but she couldn’t do anything, right?

 

One rotation later, it was guarding the cells day. It was not a task Quinn particularly liked. Some men were quite rude. Last time, she got more insults than she ever had in her entire life. They were mad to be thrown there, and they let you know. A couple of them were violent, and you had to be like, three amazons, just to give them food!

She went in direction of the basement. That was where the prison was. The Amazons didn’t have that much prisoners. But since demigods were attracting monsters and all, regular prison was not the safest. So, in the last years, a couple of them got sent in Seattle. Very nice!

The Amazons had always kept some men prisoners historically. Quinn didn’t question on the whys. She didn’t want to know everything. She still felt quite weird when seeing submissive men, so she didn’t want to ask more question on any men treatment. Even if some had done quite bad things. They didn’t end up in prison for nothing, right?

She was taking care of the middle zone. Ugh, that was where the worst were! The first prisoner there was quite scary. He was very mean, and last time, he totally decided Quinny was exciting and kind of took his pants off. She had left the place traumatised. “Tomboy lesbians excite me. I raped one, some years ago,” he had said, before Quinn left to see another guard, shaking. The last thing she wanted was this man to think of her when masturbating. And please, not in front of her!

She passed next to his cell that day, hoping things would be more normal. _Please be sleeping or something_ , she thought to herself. Of course he was not.

              “You know who you make me think of?”

The only thing that came to Quinn’s mind was, “Please, not the girl you raped,” but she didn’t say it loud, scared it was the answer.

Hearing her silence, Knight decided to talk.

              “That flower girl I outed to everyone. The same muscles and same Canada T-shirt. She has blond hair, just like you. I had total fun pushing her in her counsellor’s bed and beating her until she fainted. I wish you’d join me here, so we can have more fun that I had fucking her. Interested?”

Quinn thought she’d be sick. Did he really propose sex to her? Yew! How could she be attracted to that guy? He was disrespectful, rude, didn’t talk about anything but sex, seemed violent, and was a boy! All those things were big turn offs to Quinn. It was just not going to happen.

              “Shut up, Knight.”

She decided to skip giving his food to torture him a little. You don’t respect me, I’m not feeding you. As she passes plates to other prisoners who were less troubling, she wondered why he called that girl flower. Was it because she was naïve? Had a way-too-nice personality, like, so nice it gets on your nerves? Or it was a tree creature Ann-Sophie had told her about. Naiads, dryads? Quinn couldn’t remember how they were called. A kind of nymph, whatever. She just remembered the teen telling Jessie and her about that time she couldn’t leave her cabin due to diarrhea. _If you think you can go do your things in the forest next to a tree when in rush, there are dryads that will hate you for shitting on them!_ Dryads were what they were, then. She remembered asking Ann‑Sophie about what it was, because she didn’t understand. While Jessie was near peeing her pants because of the situation.

She suddenly stopped what she was doing. Canada. Muscles. Blond hair. Flowers. Mark wasn’t referring to personality, isn’t he? Quinn’s heart started beating fast. Flowers was the last name of her reservist teammate. This man was from Camp Half-Blood. Ann-Sophie… No. He didn’t do that? Not to her teammate? If she hated him already, now, it was war. Wasn’t she supposed to be good at that, war? Thanks grandpa Mars!

She continued her day like nothing, but she couldn’t help but thinking about that guy. She hated him, and made him know every time she walked near his cell. _Disgusting bastard_.

 

She was happy when her day was done. No wonder why that task was in rotation! Everyone hated it. As if someone would like to be insulted all day!

She entered in her room exhausted. She had an intense headache from screaming all day, or be screamed at. She just lay on her bed, trying to relax. It was not a bad thing her roommate was not there yet, she had a chance for a bit of calm. She was supposed to go to the gym today. She felt like postponing it, which was not her normal.

She closed her eyes to rest, and the image of that Ares man unzipping his pants, erection very visible, came in her mind. She vomited in her mouth of disgust. She couldn’t imagine. She was scared of that boy and he had never actually touched her. She didn’t want to know how Ann‑Sophie had felt. How old was she, back then? Quinn didn’t know how much time had passed since his arrival in the Amazons’ cell. And she could bet Ann-Sophie didn’t talk right away. Quinn realised she had never asked her teammate how old she was when she learned she was a demigod.

She felt so bad for her teammate that she almost texted her. But to say what? It probably had happened a year or two before, if not more, and Quinn hoped her teammate had left this bad experience behind. She would probably never forget, though. Quinn knew she wouldn’t if it had happened to her. Quinny was shaking in her room.

A knock on the door woke the soccer player a little. Charlotte would have just entered, so who was it? She let a quite silent, “Uh?” go out of her mouth. The door opened since Quinn hadn’t lock it.

              “I was coming to know if you were coming to eat with me. Uh, you don’t look very good.”

It was Ava. _I just almost puked in my own bed_. She didn’t say it loud and just looked up.

              “Prison duty today. Head pounding. Feel sick.”

The blond girl made a little smile.

              “Want a massage? Would that make you feel better?”

Quinn let an appreciative moan, feeling nodding would make her more nauseous. But it was worth nothing, as soon as she moved to sit, she felt her stomach flipping.

              “Trash can.”

Ava had good reflexes and executed as soon as Quinn talked. Her face was probably pale enough too. The energy bar she had eaten an hour earlier made its way out. Ava sat next to her and held her hair. Quinny felt like cuddling, but Ava was just a friend, and she didn’t know her well enough for this. It was bad enough that she was there holding her hair!

Rebecca was totally crushing on the other amazon. Ava… she was cute, and she was nice. And Quinn had overheard her in the shower telling Maia about an ex girlfriend. That made things interesting for the soccer player. She was not out of range, right? But she was scared about making a move. Ava could want her as a friend. What if the soccer player was not her type at all? Most of her friends didn’t propose massages, though, and Quinn couldn’t help but hope, but she didn’t want to get her hopes too up. _Keep it as a friendship for now_.

Quinn felt a bit better now. Her head was still aching, but the nausea seemed to slowly go away. She felt bad for Ava. She had knocked to have a friend to eat with, not holding the hair of Quinny while she puked. Quinn probably apologised three times about that.

              “Quinny, it’s ok, stop making a Canadian of yourself! It’s fine, I don’t mind that much. I’m used to cleaning messes up. Some of my friends really can’t drink properly, so what do you think happens every time we go out? I’m almost used to it now.”

Quinn let a little laugh, recalling her last party she had. She hadn’t been the worse. But not the best drinker either… But what could she say, she had a bronze medal, she had to celebrate it, uh? She still remembered asking some girls why they had let Ann-Sophie drink. She had ended up so sick… It was not a bad thing she had been a reservist, interviewers didn’t mind not having her for interviews the next morning. She just couldn’t show up. She was underage and visibly still hungover. Gaby and Ann-So had had the – _cough cough_ – privilege to sleep in.

              “Why are you laughing, Canada?”

              “Stop calling me… seriously?” she said, making a face before adding, “If your think your friends are bad, take a bunch of sixteen‑year-old teens celebrating an Olympic medal… That was a little mess. Don’t tell anyone, though, I might be in trouble. I think I have some pics Jessie sent me the other day.”

              “And why were you there? You have travel to Rio this summer to watch it? Jessie, your roman friend you mention sometimes, was participating in the competition?”

Quinny blushed a bit. Did she not mention yet to Ava she was playing soccer? She looked at the pictures on her phone to find one of Jessie, Ann-Sophie and her, their bronze medals around their neck. It was before they had more than two drinks. They still looked presentable.

              “Is it… you? And that’s a bronze medal you have around your neck?”

Quinny smiled.

              “I guess I have forgotten to explain what level of soccer I play? I have it with me. The gods like sometimes to turn them into weapons. When I think of my medal, it leaves its place at my parents and comes into my neck. It’s also the sword I use during training, that’s like the second and last step I can think of. My mom freaked out the first time it happened, she thought someone had break in the house. Ann‑Sophie, her friend Alina and I have those kinds of weapon. Jessie will have hers when we’ll get a gold medal, since roman demigods use imperial gold only. She doesn’t really mind. She is so humble.”

Ava didn’t really seem to believe her. Quinn concentrated enough for her medal to show up in her hands. She had her eyes closed, but she felt the heavy metal in her hands, the colourful ribbon falling at the right side. She didn’t want to switch the medal into a sword, but she thought Ava would like to see her reward.

              “You are a bronze medalist from the last Olympic games… you were part of the team that won Brazil. Wow. I knew you were quite athletic, but now I know why you wake up that early to train!”

Quinn just laughed at it. Ava never asked why yet! She hadn’t had any questions about her training schedule from anyone, and it had never really bother. She didn’t like that much the attention.

              “Are the games still available to watch? I’d like to see you play.”

Quinn grinned, and shook her head. To her knowledge, most of the time, it was taken down one or at most two months after the end of the competition. That sucked. All they could find was some highlights, maybe, if they were lucky. 

 

The weeks passed, and Quinn only got closer to Ava. They seemed to have a good chemistry when working together, and Quinn still hoped to have more. She asked the girl out, at the end of a shift. Just to hang out to a café. Ava blushed. And accepted.

She got in her dorm to pick a coat and money. Charlotte was still in her bed.

              “Did you do anything today? And when did you got here, you weren’t there when I fell asleep last night nor when I woke up.”

The girl looked at her roommate like she was an alien.

              “Mind your own business, Rebecca.”

The _poor girl_ seemed hungover. Was not new. She was going out at least twice a week. Quinn wasn’t mad she didn’t show up in the middle of the night this time. It was better she slept somewhere else than being awaken by a drunk roomie at 3 AM.

She joined Ava at the entrance of the building. They got to chance to talk about their life at the café. Then, they went for a little walked. It was cold outside, now. She could see Ava would have needed mittens.

              “Do you want mine? I’m used to cold temperature. Canadian-made, remember?”

She asked how cold it could go. Quinn had to make the Celsius to Fahrenheit conversion. While Quinn took out her mittens, Ava decided to put her cold hands in hers. There was a shy smile from the American. Hope for the Canadian.

They walked another mile, and then, Quinn let a, “I think I love you,” go out of her mouth. It was not meant to say it loud, but her crush definitely heard it.

              “What would you think of that?”

Ava went on her toes to approach her head to Rebecca’s. Quinn was significantly taller. Her lips touched the Canadian’s. It was a soft kiss. And it felt great. Quinn kissed her back.

              “Yeah, I am sure I love you.”

They went back to Amazon, holding hands in the dark of the evening. Watched a romantic movie in pyjama, cuddling on Quinn’s bed. Charlotte was once again nowhere to be seen, while Ava’s roomie was more of a gamer. One was never there, the other always in her room. An easy choice to pick where they’d see their movie, uh? They ended up kissing once again. The butterflies in Quinn’s stomach felt great. But Quinn knew she wanted to take her time with Ava. They ended up falling asleep in spoon, computer on the floor next to the bed, that Ava placed there before someone send it flying on the floor by moving in their sleep.


End file.
